Rob Tothill

Thanks Jon. I'll give it a polish and try again.

Thanks Jon, It is an APC. Should there be a gasket for the rocker cover? It doesn't have one and seems to be leaking a bit of oil. I'm not bothered about the dripping oil if it won't cause any problems.

Thanks Denis. I have it about 2500 at the moment and about 9000 at the top end (5% nitro). Does that sound okay? I'm on pro power 5 so a lot of oil in the fuel. It's a bit smokey at idle but picks up well after the 30 second test. Does that sound okay?

I had the same question about valve clearances. I am just setting up an old 1.20 after 9 months of not doing much modelling (our first baby is 6 months). I went for a cigarette paper as valve clearance, as I have previously done with saitos. Is that too small a gap? I also wondered what is a decent idle on a 15x6?

You could try looking at the site on the waybackmachine website. It's a Web archive that captures snapshots of websites at different points in time. The address below will take you to the 2016 captures, but you will also be able to look before and after that. https://web.archive.org/web/20160701000000*/https://www.thingiverse.com

That's a real shame. Your friend is probably already doing so, but it's worth keeping an eye on eBay and Gumtree in case things are put up for sale on there.

Hi Andy, I've been thinking about getting a compressor too. I have no experience of spraying, so don't know if this is up to the job, but at the page below there is a deal for a compressor with a 24l tank, and some tools for just over ?80 which I was considering. I'd be interested to know if those with some more knowledge think it would be good enough for spraying 60 size models https://www.sgs-engineering.com/air-compressors/sc24h-24-litre-high-flow-air-compressor-tool-kit

I think mine was about ?15 Geoff. Being a bit stingy I looked into getting the foam and cutting my own, but worked out I'd only save about ?2 so knocked it on the head. It does work well, as you say, and is protective because it's soft.

A foam thingy like this https://www.wirelessmadness.com/overlander-rc-model-plane-stand-eva-foam-585-x-300-x-400mm-ol-168?language=en¤cy=GBP&gclid=CjwKCAjw6szOBRAFEiwAwzixBUKly_GzfvUxi26yr5bb3WROhExOhCedGQmGl6PK3nFSGSl82hy_BxoC8BIQAvD_BwE

I use 6v Nimh for all my rxs, which mostly have analog servos - so no enormous current draw. In one of my aeroplanes I fitted a more powerful digital servo to the rudder and was slightly concerned about brownouts (probably unnecessarily). One of our club members worked in electronics and suggested putting a capacitor in parallel to deal with any peaks. I wired one to a plug and plugged into a spare port on the receiver. Apparently it's very important to fit it the right way around otherwise it will explode! This is another option that can add an extra bit of protection when using Nimh. I don't know if it would work for multiple high torque servos though. RobEdited By Rob Tothill on 03/10/2017 08:42:48

Hi Ace, I just had a quick look on the phone (which is not ideal - it will d be better on a computer). If you type the old Web address (http://www.mvvs.nl) into the search box it will bring up a time line below showing years. Move this along until you see black bars which indicate when the site has been captured. Select a year with captures and then look at the calendar below. You will see a blue blob on any date that a capture has taken place on. Click on the date and it will take you to that capture. You probably want to look at a capture that has a big bar in the time line as I think this indicates a lot of captured pages. Or you could look at the most recent captures when there was probably more content on the site. I hope this helps.

Google thewaybackmachine and it will take you to a Web archive that has lots of old defunct websites on it. You may be able to find what you're after.

Infilling at the root also reduced problems when trying to align the wing to the fuselage to ensure that the incidence and lateral alignment were correct.

Hi Michael, sorry for the slow response. I used 30minute gluing epoxy, rather than skinning epoxy, when butt joining the two wing halves together. Once that was dried I then prepared the wing for the bandage. I found there were some small gaps in the glue joint between the wing halves, so mixed a little bit more 30 minute epoxy and ran it into the gaps using a hairdryer/heat gun to make it flow. When aligning the wing tips I kept the misalignment at the roots at the trailing edge, so the leading edges were in line, but there was about 3/16" offsets at the root. I infilled with balsa and then when that was dried and sanded used lightweight filler to get it to a smooth finish. This makes it easier to apply the bandage as it won't conform to a tight radius well, and wouldn't have contacted the whole surface where the roots were misaligned. Once all was nice and smooth I applied the bandage with skinning epoxy (z poxy).

Thanks to everyone for all the advice. I'll do as you say Jon, and start a hurricane thread once I get the build started and check against the plans. Cheers Rob

Hi Jon, is the centre of the tank tank lined up perfectly with the centre of the carb, or is there some tolerance to them being misaligned? And if so how much? I thought that some of the bolts would be replaceable through model fixings, but are they something that had to be manufactured specifically for you guys, and wouldn't be stocked by anyone else?

Hi all, I hear what you are saying Jon. Gordon previously mentioned that I would struggle with a laser in a hurricane because of tank positioning. So I guess I'd better find something else to put in. As a hypothetical question would it be possible to use a header tank to eliminate the problem of fuel syphoning to the carb, potentially with a uniflow system vented to the air? I read a little about this, but I'm not clear on whether it would work. I'm not sure about selling the 90, as I would rather see it fly than know it was sitting in a collection somewhere! I am aware that there's no support for it. When you say the liner could have rusted, do you mean inside the piston (I. E. It would be visible if I took the head off)?

I'm pretty excited about getting the Laser fitted and running. I've not seen one run in person yet, although I've watched a few on YouTube. I have the 62" TN Hurricane to build after this, and I have bought an old Laser 90 that's never seen fuel to power it. It will probably take me a loooong time to get it built though, do could be a while before I get yo run that one.

Hi Jon. That's good news as I have bought 15 x 6 props for this project, The stated maximum weight on the box is 4.5 kg. I recently built a Wots Wot from the kit which came in at 3.4kg. This has a Saito 82 fitted and has plenty of power for my skill level. I would think this would also be the case with the Yak as the increase in weight is less than the increase in engine capacity.

Hi Michael, I'm just building an Acrowot too. It's only my fourth build so I'm not very experienced. I joined the wing halves with 30 minute epoxy, and then once joined used skinning epoxy to apply the bandage, which seems to have worked well. I did find that the tips and roots of the wings were not perfectly aligned, so I spent a lot of time taping the two halves together and marking up to ensure the tips were lined up before I joined the two halves. I then had to fill the surfaces at the root a bit.

Thanks Gordon. I will arrange it so the the prop shaft is central then. I have a bit more gluing to do yet, but I'd like to fit the blind nuts before gluing the firewall in position to save a fiddly job, now that there isn't easy access from the top of the box. I'm not sure how it will perform with the engine Steve But I think the biggest issue will be pilot skill rather than lack of power! I will let you know how it goes once I've had a few flights. Another club member has just got one too, and has fitted a 20cc DLE. Would that have a lot more power?He's a very good pilot so I'll let him fly mine too so that he can judge the performance.Edited By Rob Tothill on 02/08/2017 23:44:17

Hi Andrew, my mount says Anderson on it, it is about the same length so should do the job. I have removed the firewall and will glue it back in in the next few days an inch behind its original position. I haven't fitted a mount to an artf before, they've always been fitted when I have received the model. Does the thrust line go through the centre of the hole on the firewall? The hole is central laterally, but about an inch above the centre of the fuse vertically, and above the centre line of the wing. I was planning to do some trig to offset the mount to get the back plate to line up with the centre of the hole. Is that correct

I'm just finishing glassing my first model. I got the cloth from East Coast fibreglass supplies and used the 25gm https://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/product/glassfibre-cloth-25g-sq-mtr-1-mtr-wide I have been using Deluxe Materials finishing epoxy, which has been easy to work with. It seems quite expensive, but I won't have used a whole pack for the entire aircraft, so ?20ish isn't too bad. I have laid the cloth and squegeed with a credit card, and then sanded lightly before applying a second layer. I'm rubbish at corners, so if anyone has any tips that would be good!

Thanks too Andrew and John. I'm definitely going to hack in to the firewall. I will need to measure the amount chopped off carefully to retain the built in thrust angles. I think I have the same mount as you've shown Andrew. Does it have a fitting for a steerable nose wheel? There is room to move the engine forward around 1" so there should be plenty of space once fitted. The box may need some extra reinforcement as it's made of 1/8" lite ply, which seems a bit flimsy to me. I am surprised how lightweight the construction is in these models. I have only built the Wots series of planes and an Oodalally and they are much more robust. I can't see it being repairable after any heavy "arrivals", so better get a bit more stick time in before the maiden! Thanks again for your help.

Thanks for your replies Donald and Gordon. I did see the fkexipipe on Mick Reeves website and was consideeing it. I think Gordon makes a good point about the carb being close to the firewall too, and the potentially restricted air flow. It looks like I shall have to move the firewall back. I think it will actually be stronger with gussets in front and dowel pegs I am planning to. Put the engine in at 45? as you say Gordon, to get the carb in the right place. Thanks for your advice. Rob